Newark Council of Churches

Newark's Founding

Newark was founded in 1666 by a congregational church fellowship. The founding was a culmination of the congregants’ quest for religious liberty from England’s governmental control over the church.

The initial movement was in 1620 via the Mayflower voyage that landed them at Plymouth Rock. From there in 1640, still seeking religious freedom was their movement to South Hampton, Long Island, and shortly thereafter in 1644 to Branford, Connecticut. The final movement in 1666 was the historical “mission accomplished” move to Newark, New Jersey. It was in New Jersey with the founding of NewArk that the church became a township community, the head and not the tail.

So finally, forty-five years after landing at Plymouth Rock, the mission was accomplished. It clearly was not the founding of Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the mission was accomplished. As history’s sequence of events clearly affirms and verifies, the mission was actually accomplished with the founding of Newark by the church. The church laid Newark’s foundation; therefore, Newark’s restoration can only be led by the church.